IS destroys Palmyra’s Roman Theatre

Palmyra: Parts of Roman Theater located in ancient city of Palmyra have been destroyed by militants of Islamic State of Syria and Iraq, the sources revealed here on Friday.

According to the sources, a group of four pillared structures belonging to modern replicas have also been hurt by attacks of the militants, the Syria’s antiquities chief said.

Moreover the ISIS militants have reportedly recaptured the archaeological sites that Unesco listed from the government troops.

The UN head called the attacks of the terrorist body as “a new war crime”.

UN director general, Irina Bokova, said what she described as “cultural cleansing by violent extremists” had resulted in “an immense loss for the Syrian people and for humanity”.

It is pertinent to mention here that IS destroyed more than 100 other monuments when it sized the area in May 2015.

“The group held the site and nearby city known locally as Tadmur for 10 months. The militants were forced out by a Russian-backed government offensive in March 2016, but regained control while pro-government forces where focused on battling for the city of Aleppo late last year”, the UN DG informed.

Maamoun Abdulkarim, the head of the Syrian government’s Antiquities Department, told the Associated Press that “reports of the latest destruction first trickled out of Palmyra late in December, and then satellite images which became available late on Thursday confirmed it.